pike is a Worx Robotic Mower. I have had him for a while now. And I could easily say he is the most useful robot I have ever met. He was expensive, but he saves me a lot of time and money.
I had moved his boundary wire a little a few days ago. To make room for the garden we are planning in our back yard. I figured I could improve his docking reliability. Because at this point that is the only remaining regular issue spike has. He can’t always dock. I figure I had him docking something like 85% of attempted dockings. But that meant something like having to put him back on the dock every few days.
Well I think I nailed it this time. The key is to just bring him straight down the center. I always had him coming from the side at least a little bit. Just right down the middle, and he seems to dock every time. I got some footage too.
I put the action cam on Spike, and set up the old camera on the tripod. I figured I should document this, it might be useful to me and maybe it could help someone else. But Spike said he was tired, too tired to train. So I let him rest at his dock and went to work on his lesson plan.
I pulled out some ground spikes from his boundary wire. The 3 closest to his dock. I have to be a little carefull, the spikes I used can cut the boundary wire if I pull on it too hard. I moved them further inward, to the left if you were trying to dock. Bringing the boundary wire nearly straight down the middle, straight into his dock. Continueing straight underneath his dock and then out the back. This seems to be exactly what Spike needed. I went inside to let him charge.
I came back when it was already too dark, so I brought some lights. I had my cell phone, headlamp, and two little flashlights. I got some more footage of him docking. He nailed it every single time on his first try. I cant wait to do something with that footage, Azura was helping too.
To summarize, put the dock inline with the boundary wire. So Spike doesn’t have to worry about turning or anything. Think of it as a clasp on a necklace or an inline fuse. Just bring that boundry wire straight down the middle and right out the back. BOOM! I taught spike a new trick!